For Judicial Transparency

Several developments on the political front have once again magnified the problems besetting the two principal formations on the national scene as also the ubiquitous corruption eating into the vitals of the society. While the BJP is still grappling with the revolt in the ranks of its MLAs in Karnataka, the Congress-NCP alliance in Maharashtra is yet to resolve the vexed problem of the State Ministry formation. At the same time, the Enforcement Directorate as well as the Income Tax sleuths have uncovered details of the transfer of $ 110 million (about Rs 550 crores) to a front man in Dubai for overseas investments as acquisition by former Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda’s associates.

Meanwhile, the Union Home Minister addressed the general session of the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind at Deoband on November 3 appreciating the religious fatwa issued by the Deoband institution against terrorism sometime back. But on the same day the influential Darul Uloom seminary issued another fatwa calling on Muslims not to sing Vande Mataram as it violates Islam’s faith in monotheism; and the general session’s endorsement of the latest fatwa has immediately sparked a controversy.

On the economic front things are not looking up. As the Finance Minister told the Economic Editors Conference in the Capital on November 3, the government cannot drop its guard and hence the fiscal stimulus would continue since the growth of core industries remained moderate at four per cent in September and the revival of the global economy was still not certain. Added to these were the drought and floods in some parts of the country. The Union Agriculture Minister too told the same Conference today that there would be no relief in food prices (which are currently abnormally high) for the next few months.

Amidst all these events as well as the varied pronouncements by the PM and the Union Home Minister on the proposed allout offensive against the Maoists in tribal India, has come a welcome step by the Supreme Court judges—two months after demands were made and public pressure grew on the country’s Apex Court that its judges come out in the open about their assets and liabilities, 20 of the 21 SC judges including the Chief Justice of India have posted the information on the Court’s official website. It has been emphasised that the declaration is voluntary. However, this, as has been pointed out in sections of the media, enables some members of the judiciary to hold out due to which the main purpose of such disclosures is defeated.

There is one more point. The judiciary has doggedly resisted putting itself under the scanner of the Right to Information (RTI) Act—when the Chief Information Commissioner directed the SC to disclose information on the judges assets earlier this year, the Apex Court challenged the CIC order, and when the Delhi High Court upheld the order, the SC decided to oppose it; the next hearing of this is later this month. In this setting several questions have been raised and on the crest of these questions allegations of corruption in the judiciary abound. It is in this context that The Times of India has made a pertinent observation:

Voluntary acceptance of the RTI and clear guidelines of declaration of judges’ assets would go a long way in scotching such assertions.

In the interest of judicial accountability as also transparency, adoption of these measures on the part of the CJI and the judges running the Apex Court does not brook the slightest delay.

November 4 S.C.